JWU News

3/22/16 | “Autism is an important part of who I am, but my career is my identity,” professor of animal science and autism activist Temple Grandin told students during JWU Providence's most recent Cultural Life Series lecture.

11/2/15 | “I can honestly say, this is the best smelling university I’ve ever spoken at,” said Helene Wecker as she greeted the packed HAC Amphitheater on October 28 for the second installment of JWU Providence’s 2015-16 Cultural Life Series. During a tour of the Harborside Academic Building before her presentation, Wecker found herself “pressing [her] nose against the windows of the classrooms,” watching the culinary students and recalling her own childhood culinary arts aspirations.

Author and former journalist Jeannette Walls visited JWU’s Providence campus last week to kick off the College of Arts & Sciences 2015-16 Cultural Life Series. Walls spoke to a packed Schneider Auditorium and received a standing ovation from the audience.

Memoirist and former MSNBC gossip columnist Jeannette Walls, animal behaviorist Temple Grandin and documentary film producer Sut Jhally will all be speaking at JWU as part of the university’s 2015-16 Cultural Life Series, sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences.

“Close your eyes and imagine a world where…bridges repair themselves and batteries are alive,” Nina Tandon told the Johnson & Wales students that filled the Pepsi Forum on April 22. “That world exists right now.”

“I’m from the fine state of New Jersey,” began Prune chef-owner Gabrielle Hamilton, eliciting a large round of applause from the full house at JWU’s Schneider Auditorium.

Hamilton was at JWU to talk about “Blood, Bones, & Butter,” her gritty memoir tracing her lifelong love affair with cooking and writing. She candidly spoke to students about her roundabout journey from chef to travel writer, restaurant owner, and busy mom.

If you asked Piper Kerman why she wrote “Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison,” she'd tell you her number one reason was “to shift perspective — that prisoners are people, not numbers.”